The fact that Minnesota will conduct a special legislative session next month regarding a new Vikings stadium doesn’t mean that the Legislature will craft a plan for the construction of a new stadium. It means only that the issue will be resolved; the resolution could be that there will be no new stadium.
And so the league is beginning to join in the not-so-subtle effort to make clear the alternative is the Vikings playing in a new stadium elsewhere.
Last week, Vikings V.P. of business affairs and stadium development Lester Bagley told PFT Live that “more than one community” has contacted the team regarding a possible move. Today, NFL executive V.P. Eric Grubman made it clear that, if no stadium is built in Minnesota, the Vikings could indeed leave.
“We’re worried about a stalemate, and a stalemate means there’s no lease, or the lease is about to expire,” Grubman said, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “There’s no plan for a stadium, and there’s an alternative plan in another city.”
Oops.
“That’s a stalemate, and the alternative wouldn’t include Minnesota,” Grubman added. “That’s the way we look at it, [it’s] a crisis.”
It’s unclear how folks in Minnesota will respond to the increased pressure, especially since the pressure is now coming from an outsider.
Either way, we’ll all find out by January 1, if not sooner. Without a deal for a new stadium, the Vikings could be playing elsewhere as soon as next year.